Jitters
by Pinky Jo Curlytail
Summary: Even world-saving heroes get them...


_Disclaimer: Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable belong to Disney. I only own them in my dreams._

* * *

Ron's heart beat double time as he heard the music change, and his eyes—along with everyone else's—flew to the back of the room. Two figures appeared there, walking slowly arm-in-arm.

James Possible's expression was a mixture of sadness and pride, though Ron was happy to see that the latter emotion seemed to be winning out.

But really it was the expression on the face of the woman walking beside James that Ron cared about, and she was staring back at him with the most radiant smile he'd ever seen. In fact, though he would have thought it impossible, her smile actually seemed to grow with every step she took down the aisle. _Well, anything's possible for a Possible_, he thought. _Even one who's about to become a Stoppable._

That thought made his heart flutter, and he fought the urge to pinch himself.

_I'm really here. And she's really here. _We're_ really here! And we're getting married!_

Like kissing Kim and dating Kim and being engaged to Kim before it, this sitch was a reality he was having trouble getting used to—in a good way, of course. He knew it was right; nothing had ever felt more right in his life. He just had a hard time believing it was _real_.

But there was Kim, walking toward him, looking so amazingly gorgeous in her white dress, and her hair pulled up, and the most beautilicious smile on her face, and—

—and then suddenly she was enveloped by a beam of sickly green light. Her smile was replaced with a look of confusion, and confusion was quickly succeeded by fear as she began floating upwards, pulled by some otherworldly force.

Ron tried to shout her name, but his voice wouldn't seem to work. He ran towards her, but the aisle suddenly seemed impossibly long. Why was Mr. Possible just standing there? Why was everyone just sitting there staring? Why didn't anyone do anything?

After what seemed like an eternity, he finally reached the light, but Kim was already almost out of reach. He leaped desperately toward her and managed to grasp onto her outstretched fingers—only to feel them slip through his hand as she was pulled up through the hole that had appeared in the ceiling.

And all that Ron could do as he fell to the ground and watched her disappear was scream.

"Kiiiiiimmmmm!"

Rufus woke up with a start. With a longsuffering sigh, the molerat clambered up onto Ron's chest and shook him by his collar until the screaming stopped.

Ron, panting and sweating, looked down at his pet dazedly, muttering, "Kim... aliens...?"

Rufus shook his head and squeaked sympathetically, "Hng, nightmare."

"Right, nightmare," Ron said, taking a deep breath and trying to gather his wits about him. "Just a nightmare..." _But it felt so real._ He shuddered and found himself reaching instinctively for the phone on his bedside table.

But even as he did so, he saw the time on his alarm clock: 3:10 a.m. He still lifted the phone off its cradle, but instead of dialing the familiar number, he just stared at it. _I really shouldn't bother her, especially not tonight..._

Then the phone rang in his hands, startling him so much that he screamed again and tossed it into the air. Rolling his eyes, Rufus scampered down to the floor and retrieved the still-ringing device, hauling it back up onto the bed and presenting it to his flustered human.

Ron took a few calming breaths and looked at the caller ID: _KP._

_Well, of course_, he thought. Who else would be calling him at this hour? But then, why would _she_ be calling at this hour? Normally a late night call from Kim wouldn't be all that unusual—it was almost a commonplace occurrence, in fact—but he knew she had Wade under strict orders to forward all urgent missions to GJ for the next two weeks.

He finally picked up the phone, hit the call button and put it to his ear. "Kim?"

"Ron!" she said, sounding surprised that he had finally answered. "I was starting to worry that maybe you got cold feet and ran off to New Mexico or something."

"Heh, no way, KP. These toes are toasty."

"Good," she said, a smile in her voice. "You don't sound like I woke you up, though."

"Uh, yeah," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "Actually, I was just debating calling _you_."

"Debating?"

"Yeah, well, for one thing, you did once threaten never to kiss me again if I kept calling you in the middle of the night."

Kim snorted. "Yeah, and look how that turned out." She paused for a moment before asking, "So why are you up at this hour and _debating_ calling me anyway?" she asked.

"Why are _you_ up and _actually_ calling _me_?" he countered.

"I asked you first."

"Uh huh, and I asked you second. Your point?"

Both held their breath for a moment, waiting for the other to cave, before they gave in and said simultaneously, "I had a nightmare."

"Jinx!" Kim called out. "You owe me… hmm, the next 60 or 70 years."

"Aw man," Ron groaned playfully. "And you couldn't even let me win just once in my last hours as a free man?"

"Pfft, Ron Stoppable, you haven't been a 'free man' since Junior Prom."

"True," he conceded all too happily. _Try since Pre-K._

"Good, now that we've established that... what was your nightmare about?"

Ron thought about throwing the question back at her again, but the truth was he really did want to talk to her about it. He leaned back against his pillow and sighed. "Well, it didn't start out as a nightmare," he began. "Actually, it started out really nice. It was—"

"The wedding?" Kim finished for him.

"Yeah!" Ron said, sitting up again in surprise. "And I was standing up at the front, waiting..."

"...and Dad and I were just starting to come down the aisle..."

"You looked so beautiful."

"You looked so handsome."

"And you had the biggest smile on your face," they both said together. Neither of them called "jinx" this time.

The memory brought a smile to Ron's face, but it quickly faded. "But then," he continued, "there was this tractor pull…"

There was a pause on the other end of the phone before Kim laughed. "Okay, unless your dream took a ferociously different turn than mine, I think you mean a tractor _beam_, Ron."

"Yeah, well all I know is there was this light _pulling_ you away. And there was nothing I could do about it." He tried to swallow back the memory of that feeling of helplessness—and the fact that it didn't just originate with his dream. "Just like last time," he said quietly.

"Ron, 'last time' you got on a rocket and flew into space to save me," Kim said. "And I know you'd do it again if you had to."

"In a heartbeat, KP," he replied, allowing himself a small smile. "Is that what you were thinking about in your dream?"

"Well… mainly I was just thinking, 'These aliens had better not ruin my dress or they're going to be in for a world of hurt.'" Ron laughed. "But the thought that you would rescue me _was_ there, too," she assured him as she joined in.

After their laughter had died down, Ron spoke up again. "So, we had the same dream again."

"Sounds like it."

"Do you... think it means something?" he asked apprehensively. _A premonition? An ill omen? Bad nacos at the rehearsal dinner? _He knew he was letting his imagination run wild, as he so often did. (There was no such thing as a bad naco, after all.) He also knew there wasn't much he could do about it but hope that Kim would bring him back down to earth as she so often did.

"Of course it does," Kim replied matter-of-factly, and his heart sank before she continued: "It means that we're both feeling stressed about tomorrow, so our subconsciouses are calling up the last time we felt this nervous about something."

"Oh," Ron said, feeling somewhat relieved. But something still niggled at the back of his mind. "So, you're, uh... nervous?"

Kim moved quickly to assuage the insecurity that had crept into his voice. "Not like 'second thoughts' nervous, Ron." She sighed. "Maybe 'nervous' isn't even the right word for it."

Ron relaxed again. "I know what you mean, KP. It's not like how I felt at high school graduation. Then I was nervous because I didn't know what the future held."

"Oh, and now you know what the future holds?" she asked slyly.

"Well, maybe not everything," he conceded. "But I know who I'll be holding in the future. And that makes all the difference."

"That might be the most cheesily romantic thing you've ever said to me."

"Well, you know how I feel about cheese, KP."

At hearing that beloved word, Rufus perked up. "Mmhmm, cheese!"

"Remind me," Kim said.

"I like it almost as much as red-headed crime-fighting cheerleaders."

She giggled. "What did I ever do to deserve you, Ron Stoppable?"

"I don't know, Kim, but it must have been pretty bad."

"Hey, no dissing my future husband!"

"Okay, okay," Ron said, holding up his hands as if she was there to see the placating gesture. "I'm still not sure what you see in him, but I'll respect your decision because I love you."

"Please and thank you," Kim said with another giggle. "As for what I see in him, it couldn't be the self-deprecating sense of humor."

"Ha ha, Kim," Ron replied sarcastically. But he found himself grinning as he realized that the nightmare that had him screaming and sweating only a few minutes ago was already fading into an indistinct memory. "Y'know, I feel a lot better. I'm glad we talked, whether it's against the rules or not."

"The rules?" Kim asked.

"Oh yeah," Ron explained, "that's the other reason I hesitated about calling you. I wasn't sure if it would violate the whole 'not supposed to see the bride before the wedding' thing."

"Ah," Kim said. "Hmm, well, I guess some purists might disagree, but I think talking on the phone probably doesn't count. As long as you didn't use the Kimmunicator for video."

Ron paused before confessing, "I _was_ tempted."

Kim sighed. "I miss you, too." Though they'd seen each other every day that week, somehow between running around making last-minute wedding preparations and entertaining visiting relatives, it felt like forever since they'd actually been together. "We'll see each other soon enough, though."

"Yeah," Ron said, thinking back to the beginning of his dream. As amazing as Kim had looked, he was sure the reality was going to blow it out of the water.

"And hey," Kim added, "this is the last time we'll ever have to call each other if one of us has a nightmare."

Ron's smile grew. "Yeah, that is a badical thought," he said. "Although I'm not really expecting to have many nightmares after tomorrow."

Kim sighed contentedly. "Me neither."

The companionable silence that settled over them was interrupted all too soon by the familiar chattering of a naked mole rat. Ron looked over to see Rufus pointing at the alarm clock, which now read 3:27 a.m. He sighed. "Rufus has a point, KP. We should probably try to get some sleep."

"Yeah," she agreed, but he could hear the same reluctance in her voice that he was feeling in his heart. "Don't want to have bags under our eyes on our wedding day."

Ron chuckled. "No, I guess not. Though you would still look beautiful anyway."

"Whatever you say, Casanova." Ron could almost hear her eyes rolling. "So... goodnight."

"Yeah, 'night, KP. Love you."

"I love you, too," she replied. But she didn't hang up.

And neither did he. It felt like there was something they still needed to say, but he couldn't figure out... _Ah._

"Have sweet dreams, KP." _That's it._

She laughed softly. "You too, Ron." _Click._

Ron dropped his phone back into its cradle and then lay back in bed, his arms crossed behind his head and a contented smile on his face. "Ya know, I think I will."

XxXxX

Ron's heart beat double time as he heard the music change, and his eyes—along with everyone else's—flew to the back of the room. Two figures appeared there, walking slowly arm-in-arm...

**The End**


End file.
